Corruption Currents: From ‘Apple Selfies’ to Venezuelan Firm Probed in US

Wall Street Journal

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Bribery:

Mike Lucas

Federal and New York City prosecutors are looking into alleged FCPA violations by a Venezuelan company, as well as into a Missouri-based company that played a key role in its success, sources told WSJ. The Venezuelan company’s president said the firm nor its officials have been contacted by a U.S. agency but would cooperate if asked, and a representative for the Missouri company declined to comment on any investigation. (WSJ)

The Council of Europe has some questions for Greece about its anti-graft law. (Greek Reporter)

German bank BayernLB said it rejected a 25 million euros settlement from Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. (BBC)

A Romanian court sentenced a media mogul to 10 years in prison for money laundering, while six others were also jailed in the case. (AP)

The FCPA Blog flags the case of an adoption agency manager pleading guilty to bribing Ethiopian officials and starts a series on collective action. Thebriberyact.com teases an upcoming U.K. bribery case. Mike Volkov finds five common weaknesses in compliance programs. Tom Fox focuses on the future of due diligence in China.

Cybercrime/Data Security:

An encrypted instant-messaging service top banks plan to use is infuriating the SEC. (NY Post)

Software created by U.K.-based Gamma Group International was used to spy on computers that appear to be located in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Russia, Iran and Bahrain, according to a leaked trove of documents. Gamma Group did not respond to email requests for comment. (ProPublica)

The security company that discovered the massive Russian data theft has been thrust into the spotlight. The case led one writer to seek new ways to protect his financial data. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, NY Times)

One recent bitcoin heist allegedly involved stealing an entire chunk of raw internet traffic from more than a dozen internet service providers, then shaking it down for as many bitcoins as possible. (Wired)

The British Virgin Islands are working on cybercrime legislation. (IPI)

Fraud:

House Republicans are in a tizzy over Operation Choke Point. (Huffington Post)

Money Laundering:

A Ghanian businessman suspected of money laundering was released on bail and his passport was seized. (GhanaWeb)

Sanctions:

Russia may negotiate price limits with domestic food producers in order to curb inflation as a result of its embargo. Will Russia’s embargo flood European markets with cheap fruits and vegetables? In Poland, people are taking apple selfies. A GBP30,000 cheese order hours away from being sent to Russia has been left stuck in Shropshire, as U.K. firms are hit by the measures. Editorials say Moscow is being hoisted by its own petard; is it a weak hand? Five facts about the Russian sanctions on the West are here. (Reuters, Quartz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, BBC, BBC, BBC, Financial Times sub req, Global Post, The National, Vox)

U.S. sanctions on Russia aren’t trifling matters, according to top industry players. Ukraine is ready to impose its own measures. The ECB is clamping down on Russian banks operating in the euro zone as Western sanctions bite harder. However, Exxon began drilling in the Arctic Ocean. (Financial Times sub req, Washington Post, Moscow Times, Bloomberg)

The World Trade Organization will probably not examine any complaints from western countries against Russia for imposing food bans, until September, a source told RIA Novosti.

Departing U.S. officials are staying on for nuclear talks with Iran. Tehran denied reports of a deal with Russia that could have torpedoed the talks. (Al Monitor, Tasnim)

Uganda hired a Washington D.C. public relations firm following U.S. sanctions imposed after it passed an anti-gay rights law. (BuzzFeed)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there would be no new conditions for support or a return to the economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar to drive out the former military rulers. (WSJ)

Comments (1 of 1)

MONEY LAUNDERING...a government term for their restrictions on what you can do with YOUR money...a way to control YOU. Many/most tyrannical governments feel they must control people's right to exit the country with their life savings.

Many executives express concerns about their existing cyber incident response plans, despite a number of high-profile breaches. The uncertainty surrounding cyber incident response presents an opportunity to educate the executive team on cyber resilience, the coordinated set of enterprisewide activities designed to help organizations respond to, and recover from, a variety of cyber incidents, while reducing their impact to business operations, cost and brand damage.

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